Houston (AP) – The President of Texas A & M University, which brewed by an online video of a confrontation between a student and a professor in a class in which the sex discussed, said on Friday that he was now time to go, but he gave no specific reason.
Mark A. Welsh III and the school had suspended political pressure and criticism from the governor after the video was published on social media. Universities and universities across the country have weathered controversy about gender identity, sexual preference and diversity, which were mocked as part of a “wok” agenda.
“When I was appointed President of Texas A & M University for the first time, I said, Chancellor John Sharp and our rainy board that I would serve, and I could possibly be until it was time for another person,” said Welsh in a explanation published on Friday. “It has become clear in the past few days that this time is now.”
The video was published last week by the Republican representative of the State of Brian Harrison and showed a confrontation during a children’s literature course. The professor was later released after Harrison referred to the actions of the professor “Dei and LGBTQ indoctrination”.
Welsh’s resignation, which was announced on Thursday by the leaders of the university system, came into force on Friday. Texas A&M University said Friday Welsh would not grant interviews.
“Pres. Welsh’s decision to resign comes to a critical moment, and we agree that the right time for changing the leadership is now,” said Robert Albritton, chairman of the board of directors.
When Welsh left the administration building on Friday, he was hit by hundreds of cheering students, faculties and others when he and his wife Betty left the campus.
On Wednesday, a group of current and former student guides Welsh praised in a letter to the head of the university system.
“We are united to support his leadership and undertake to work with him,” says the letter.
But Welsh had lost the support of many students and faculties for the dismissal of Professor Melissa McOoul, said Leonard Bright, professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service by Texas A & M.
“I think we all hope that he would have realized that the surrender of these political inquiries would never end well for him,” said Bright, Interim President of the American Association of University Professors A&M Chapter.
The video was recorded by a student who debated McCoul about gender identity. The student said that these discussions in class were illegal because President Donald Trump’s executive order recognizes two genders and that the topic is against their religious beliefs.
Welsh was a general in the US Air Force and a Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service by A&M.
When Welsh was an interim president in August 2023, he made an explanation in which he strongly defended academic freedom at A&M. A&M had confronted Fallout when it was directed to stop an experienced journalist to restart his journalism school after a conservative website criticized her research on breed and diversity. The university was also criticized that it had suspended another professor after a student accused her of talking about the governor of Lieutenant unfavorably during a lecture on the opioid crisis.
“We have to promote an academic community that works for a meaningful, respectful dialogue about controversial topics and competing ideas,” said Welsh.
While A&M is regarded as a very conservative university, Bright said that many of his conservative students want to “know the other arguments”, and the university has the responsibility to “teach all students in a way that they are expanding against misinformation”. But Welsh cannot “remain committed” to defend academic freedom, he said.
The university system in Texas A&M provided the Associated Press on Friday a copy of Welsh’s three-sales letter. It did not explain the resignation of Welsh either.
A recent law in Texas prohibits K-12 schools, to inform about sexual orientation or gender identity. The law does not apply to universities.
Texas A&M is located in the college station, about 153 kilometers northwest of Houston. A&M is one of the largest public universities in the country with more than 70,000 students on the main campus.
Various universities and their presidents across the country, including Harvard, Columbia and the University of Virginia, were increased this year by conservative critics and the Trump administration about diversity, justice and inclusion as well as the reactions of the schools to campus protests.
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